Tag: Mystic

They’re so worried, the corporate church, the logicians, the scientific minds who believe only in what’s been tested and approved of.

And we know why.

Wicca, witchcraft, mysticism, and paganism are on the rise, and the Emperor energy (archetype) thinks we have gone insane.

He pops his pills to get happy, fuels himself with caffeine for yet another day in a cubicle (noticeably falling apart at the seams). We watch, shrugging because he won’t listen to a thing we say.

We’re the ones who have become unhinged, he tells us…

The reality of it all is that we as a culture have become so disconnected from the cycles of nature that it’s destroying our minds and our bodies. More than that, it’s killing our relationships too. As humans we’re no longer interdependent. I don’t walk downtown, buy from the baker whom I know, the butcher who’s my cousin, the pharmacist who’s engaged to my neighbor… No. I go out and shuffle with the herd in a sea of faces. At the customer service counter someone is yelling at the employee who’s just following the protocol his boss gave him.

Everyone thinks they’re right.

Everyone thinks they’re better.

(But not really, no, because it’s their disconnect that makes them so miserable.)

That’s why Witchcraft, Paganism, and Mysticism are becoming increasingly popular choices. We’re tired. Tired of feeling sick and out of tune with the reality that we are—believe it or not—eternal, spiritual beings meant for more than vanilla lattes with chocolate sprinkles.

We see. We listen. We have eyes to see and ears to hear. We watch the moon in her phases, the sun as he changes his track across the sky. We note the tides and feel Mother Earth gearing for spring, or falling asleep for winter. Not because we’re unhinged, but because we know. We know that there is more to life than Net Flicks and pizza. We can feel it, and we’re happier and healthier for it too.

For many of us, our families watch with guarded eyes, as do our neighbors and religious leaders. They’re so sick and unhappy themselves, but they don’t have the eyes to see what’s wrong. They’re in so deep they’re not even looking for a cure. Well, they are, that’s why they pop antidepressants and whine for a better day. But all the complaining just keeps them stuck, the pills became addictive, the caffeine gives them insomnia, and then they get some more pills to ‘’cure’’ it.

Meanwhile, we feel for spring coming, and pray that those we love find their better way. It doesn’t have to be our way. We’re not interested in taking away their free will after all, just a way that brings them back into alignment with their authentic selves.

My son and I were waiting around for him to be released to go home after outpatient surgery. His girlfriend at the time was really into astrology, and to pass the time he brought up an app she’d recommended. We’d intended on entertaining each other, maybe get a laugh or two out of it, but then something strange happened.

I won’t try and duplicate his horoscope for the day because I’m a big picture thinker and can’t remember it word for word anyway, but I do remember that we both stopped laughing and everything got really quiet. It had pretty much summed up this semi-momentous moment of his life. His first surgery. No, not in that exact way, but it did describe something important happening and that it would likely involve his health. (*Note: I don’t read the daily horoscope, nor do I recommend it, since there’s far more involved in a person’s fate than their sun sign, which is what you find in the daily apps. Only vaguely do I recommend following retrogrades or transits either, as I firmly believe fate is actually in the hands of God, and that his will transcends astrology.)

But that was a coincidence, right? I mean, come on, astrology? I would have thought so too, only next we went on to read a basic description of my personality type based on my sun sign. I’m a Libra. By nature we tend to be diplomatic, scholarly, dressed well, and generally… clears throat… beautiful. (Picture a good-looking librarian type—the sexy librarian.) Did I mention we’re also modest? (Just kidding. We’re not, trust me.)

What we do best though, is relate to people. I began to think over my experiences that day at the hospital, realizing that even though the staff was there to relate to us, I’d spent most of that day trying to relate to them. For the crabby nurse I put on a smile and a joke. The anesthesiologist with the big smile got a good laugh from me when he told a joke, and the tired orderly was thoroughly thanked for his efforts.

That was when I began to wonder if there might be something to this. I’d always been curious about astrology but dismissed it because logic dictated that it just wasn’t worth exploring. Then again, I’ve always liked a good mystery. I set out to gain a better understanding. That was a year ago, and now I’m writing this post saying I believe there is something to be learned from the heavens.

How do I justify my acceptance of Christ as my savior, and astrology at the same time?

First I want to say that it’s not my duty to justify my beliefs in the first place, nor is it my job to tell others how to believe. I leave that stuff up to God, he knows better than I do. However, for educational purposes, I will go into what I have learned and how I believe. Feel free, of course to ask Him yourself. If you listen He will tell you what He wants from you.

That out of the way, I have to say that I’ve come to the point where I believe that if there’s any truth to be found in the stars then it’s there because God created it that way. Unless you’re a Gnostic Christian, you must believe that God made the heavens and the earth, so either what the sky has to tell us is complete gibberish, or he designed it to tell us things, like what our strengths and weaknesses are, and what his plan is for our time here in our incarnate form. Life is like school. We’re on this planet to learn, and when—if—we finish learning we will be as the resurrected Christ was; in a new body, back to do amazing things. Don’t believe all that hype about sitting on clouds strumming harps, BTW, because it’s not going to be like that. God will have jobs for each of us. Really amazing jobs, like what the angels do.

Think about this, who could possibly have assembled the stars at the time of creation, in just such a way as to mark the moment of your birth? Could it be the same one who marked the birth of the Christ in the same way? No one else could have designed it like that. The stars and planets don’t belong to Satan. He didn’t design them to mark our birth and life. God did that.

Astrology is mentioned in the bible too. I’m not going to extrapolate on this, but here are some verses to ponder.

Genesis 1

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Genesis 37

9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

Job 9:

8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. 9 He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the South.

Job 38

31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? 32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

Amos 5

8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name:

Isaiah 13

10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

Isaiah 40

26Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

Deuteronomy 4

19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

(Word of warning, if you feel inclined to worship the moon, sun, or anything else rotating around up there, check your head-space; they are not God.)

Deuteronomy 10

4 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

Psalm 19

1The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. 2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

Psalms 8

3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psalms 81

3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

Matthew 2

2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

Matthew 24

29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Luke 21

25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

1 Corinthians

41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

Revelations 12

2 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

What is a mystic anyway, besides an eccentric weirdo who fits in nowhere and in no place, someone who is seen by most Christians as too esoteric for the faith, and by the New Age movement as a dinosaur of a bygone era–the age of Pieces, anyone?–best left buried?

Unfortunately the words Esoteric, Mysterious, Obscure, and Magical don’t exactly help my case any when it comes to certain secs of Christianity, particularly the Evangelicals (the background I come from) and the Fundamentalists (certain family members I can’t seem to hide hard enough from) who both see God as completely defined and one hundred percent known through the bible. According to them, there is no mystery, nothing obscure, and the word esoteric practically gives them a case of the hives. Now, no one is required to justify their beliefs in the first place. Faith is faith, and it comes from a secret (dare I say esoteric) part of one’s own mind and heart; but let’s face it, people like to define themselves with a label, and they love to define others that way too. Labels aren’t always bad. They allow us to categorize people so we’ll know how to properly relate to them.

I’m going to go ahead and try to label the unknown.

To be a mystic, means firstly to seek after a tangible experience with God, sort of the guru thing, with meditation and waiting on the Creator to commune with you. Or more accurately, I should say, that we wait for our ‘monkey brains’ to chill down to the point where God can finally be felt and heard. Is the whole Experiencing God thing even real in the first place? Well, I’ve BEEN there, at the Throne Room, Heaven, Time Space Continuum, Behind the Veil, or whatever else you want to call it, but obviously my personal account isn’t quantifiable. But then neither is faith. God can’t exactly be measured and put to the Scientific Method. So for me, yes, it’s real. I would even go as far as to say that it’s more real than this three dimensional world of our five senses.

In Christianity there’s this whole deal about how God is a loving Father who wants to have a personal relationship with us. Cool, right? Well, it is, but most churchy type people will, and in the very same breath, tell you that to experience God firsthand is wrong. They’ll tell you it’s dangerous and that you’ll catch a demon that way. (Kind of like catching a cold, I guess.) The obvious problem here is that these two points are diametrically opposed.

“God wants to have a personal relationship with us” verses “we shouldn’t do anything to foster that relationship but pray in certain logical ways and read the bible.” Oh and be a good person, but let’s face it, every faith including Wicca will tell you that.

And yet… in the bible, that they hold in such high regard that it’s practically become an idol to them, people had, can anyone guess???

“That’s right boys and girls.” They had mystical experiences with God.

“By golly, really?”

“Yes, that’s right, Timmy, they did.”

So, how on earth does one, who is a seeker by nature like me, who actually had a mystical experience with God as a teenager long before any training on meditation, reconcile the mainline Christian viewpoint with personal experience? They don’t. Because you can’t. They are opposed. Thus the reason why I consider myself a Mystic. In the end, it’s the only thing that makes sense.

Now, why don’t I call myself New Age, Wiccan, Pagan, Hindu, or Buddhist? It’s because my experience of God has in fact evolved out of the personhood of Christ. I just can’t, however, not question the church experience after meeting with God face first (so to speak).

Isaiah 29:1313 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

The precept of men… they believe and trust in men.

I’m not an innovator. I’m not interested in taking apart the church system and rebuilding it. Even if I could, all I’d manage is to create yet one more of literally tens of thousands of denominations anyway, and what would be the point in that? I’m just a woman, who has ‘seen’ God, and is now seeking my true life’s purpose. Not a career like we’re told is supposed to make us so happy, but what I’m really here for. The whole, “What’s the meaning of life?” kind of thing. I am a Mystic with a gift of Knowing (others would call this clairvoyance) through dreams, visions, but also in flashes of sudden awareness. This too is unquantifiable of course, but that’s ok. No one has to believe it. It just is. This isn’t Peter Pan. No one needs to believe in me or clap their hands or whatever. Really, I’d rather no hand clapping anyway. This isn’t kindergarten. This is life. Good, bad, ugly, or as untenable as it can be.

If anyone in the shadow sea of faces out there is interested in mysticism, I recommend reading Evelyn Underhill’s book called Practical Mysticism. It’s the premier work on the subject, especially for those coming from a Christian perspective.

There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures. William Shakespeare

What I call my ‘self’ now is hardly a person at all. It’s mainly a meeting place for various natural forces, desires, and fears, etcetera, some of which come from my ancestors, and some from my education, some perhaps from devils. The self you were really intended to be is something that lives not from nature but from God. C. S. Lewis